With every win the Washington Huskies draw nearer to clinching the Pac-12 title. A win against UCLA would make them 9-0 at the halfway point of conference play. We preview Saturday’s game…
Saturday February 2nd vs. UCLA Bruins (12-9, 5-3), 1PM @ Alaska Airlines Arena on ESPN2
Opponent Notes: UCLA started conference play 3-0 before going on a three game skid with losses to Oregon State, USC and Arizona State. They appear to have snapped out of it after beating Arizona by 21 at home last week and then the Washington State Cougars by 20 on Wednesday but both of those teams are in a bit of a tailspin.
UCLA was picked 2nd in the pre-season polls (with 6 first place votes) behind Oregon (16 first place votes) and one spot ahead of Washington (2 first place votes). While the Ducks can blame a lot of their struggles on Bol Bol going down, UCLA has really just underperformed. The Bruins are 5-3 under interim coach Murray Bartow who took over on New Years Day.
The Bruins are led by guard Kris Wilkes, the sophomore guard is averaging 17.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.9 assist per game.
Point guard Jaylen Hands has taken over for Aaron Holiday (brother of former Husky Justin who went to the NBA) and is flourishing averaging 11.9 points per game and 6.6 assist. Hands was benched early in the game against the Cougars after a couple turnovers.
“I would have taken myself out too because I was wilding out,” Hands told the OC register. “I just knew I had to chill out and went back in and do what I do.” Hands would finish the game with 10 points and 8 assist.
UCLA leads the Pac-12 in rebounding (43.3 per game in conference play) and in rebounding margin (7.8).
Injury Update: Touted freshman Tyger Campbell tore his ACL in the pre-season. Also out for the year is Shareef O’Neal (son of Shaquille) who was diagnosed with a heart condition. Junior Forward Alex Olesinski missed the first two months of the season with a foot injury but after playing just 13 minutes his first six games back, he’s played a combined 23 the last two.
Schedule: UCLA and Washington have both beaten Stanford, California, Oregon & Washington State. The Bruins fell to both USC and Oregon State on the road by 13 points, Washington has victories over both. The Bruins had two respectable non-conference losses to ranked Michigan State and North Carolina teams but it was a four game losing streak that included Liberty, Ohio State, Belmont and Cincinnati (31 points) that cost Steve Alford his job.
Last Time: After beating USC by 7 in last season’s Pac-12 opener, the Huskies laid an egg at Pauley Pavilion on December 31st, 2017 falling 74 to 53. The Huskies shot just 27.9% from the field, and were 2 of 27 from beyond the arc. Wilkes had a game-high 21 points. Huskies Jaylen Nowell and David Crisp went a combined 8 for 31 from the field. Crisp was 1-9 from beyond the arc.
Matchup to Watch: Moses Brown vs. The Huskies 2-3 Zone
The Huskies have done a nice job defending big men in Pac-12 play. OSU’s Tres Tinkle and USC’s Nick Rakocevic struggled to get anything going inside. Brown is going to be a different challenge, he’s 7’1” and is averaging 11.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He leads the Pac-12 in offensive rebounds so the Huskies will have to make sure to put bodies (yes plural) on Brown. His most impressive statistic is that he is shooting 65% from the field. That’s about twice his free throw percentage which is an abysmal 35.4% (29 of 82 on the year) so don’t be surprised if the Huskies make a couple business decisions to put Brown on the line.
Obligatory Jaylen Nowell Plug: Nowell is one of two players (Houston Baptist Guard Ian Dubose) in the country averaging 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assist per game while also shooting 50% or better from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.
Prediction: Oregon upsetting Utah on Thursday night gives every Pac-12 team other than Washington at least three conference losses so UCLA may need this game more than Washington. That said, this is a Husky team that is anticipating their first sell-out of the year and they will want to do everything in their power to keep the momentum going. UCLA has shot 58% the last two games, I don’t see them maintaining that.
UCLA has blown out their last two opponents but from the looks of things, Arizona and Washington State are not good basketball teams, the Bruins are also just 2-6 away from home this year. I think Washington will get another comfortable win but I think this game will be high-scoring with both teams having their legs based on an extra day of rest having played on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday. Also UCLA leads the conference in scoring in Pac-12 games with 82.5, I think they will be the first conference team to break 70 against Washington.
Final Score: Washington 88, UCLA 77
Coach Hopkins Press Conference from today
